This short set of five reflections on Discernment by Jesuit Fr Paul Pace SJ was first published in July 2018 on his blog jesuitreflections.wordpress.com, to remember St Ignatius of Loyola, whose feast we celebrate on July 31st. Discernment is a word St Ignatius used very often, a practice he developed throughout his life. It is also a word we hear more and more nowadays: so often in fact, that we need to understand it better, otherwise we risk reducing it to a slogan and emptying it of all meaning. This blog is also inspired by Pope Francis’ document on The Call to Holiness in Today’s World, which includes a whole section (166-177) on discernment. With each post you will find a short video/song which may help you with your prayer.
A set of reflections on Discernment by Paul Pace SJ
Originally published on jesuitreflections.wordpress.com
ALWAYS DISCERNING Some months before his death, Ignatius dictated some personal reminiscences, where he could tell his followers how God led him throughout his life, transforming him from a man full of vanity and empty dreams to a spiritual master and the founder of a religious order. In these reminiscences, he chose to call himself the pilgrim, because that was how he understood himself and his life, always walking along the path he discovered he was called to follow, one step at a time. There were many surprises along the way, and more than once he had to give up what he had initially believed was what God wanted of him to move to a new place. At the time of his conversion Ignatius had felt utterly convinced God wanted him to spend his life as a pilgrim begging his way in Jerusalem. Yet he ended up studying for long years in the best university in Europe of that time, and then spent the last 17 years of his life in Rome, at the head of a religious order that was built on a radically different understanding of religious life and mission. In his writings Ignatius speaks of discernment in different ways. He insists on the need to discern our big decisions, trying to ensure they are what God wants of us. In the book of the Spiritual Exercises we also find two sets of rules for the discernment of spirits, where one learns to deal with the different tensions – movements is the word Ignatius uses – in one’s spirit.
Yet it is clear that discernment meant for him much more than a method, it meant a whole way of life. Since it is God who made me, the best thing that can happen to me is to discover and do his will for me. We all know this is easier said than done, but Ignatius shows us it is possible if we are discerning persons, willing to walk this pilgrimage one step at a time. In his recent document on holiness, the Pope speaks of discernment today as ‘an urgent need’. The gift of discernment has become all the more necessary today, since contemporary life offers immense possibilities for action and distraction, and the world presents all of them as valid and good. All of us, but especially the young, are immersed in a culture of zapping. We can navigate simultaneously on two or more screens and interact at the same time with two or three virtual scenarios. Without the wisdom of discernment, we can easily become prey to every passing trend. (167) “May it please the supreme and divine Goodness to give us all abundant grace ever to know his most holy will and perfectly to fulfil it.” – St Ignatius Loyola
Click on the icon to watch and listen to a video ‘Formation in Spiritual Discernment’ from a series by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.
ALWAYS TRUSTING THE SPIRIT At the end of a seven page letter of February 1555, full of very detailed instructions to Fr Juan Nuñez Barreto who was being sent as a Patriarch to Ethiopia, Ignatius wrote, Everything set down here will serve as directive, the patriarch should not feel obliged to act in conformity with it; rather with what a discreet charity, considering existing circumstances, and the unction of the Holy Spirit, who must direct him in everything, will dictate. This sounds really remarkable, and it reflects the true Ignatian understanding of discernment. It is not merely acting on one’s whims, or on what one ‘feels’. One must make use of all possible and realistic helps in coming to a decision: Ignatius was fully aware of the importance of Fr Barreto’s mission and gave it a lot of thought; his instructions were detailed and complex. Yet, he believed that the Spirit that led him to draw up this long letter is the same Spirit who will enlighten Fr Barreto when he arrives on the spot. The same Spirit will help Fr Barreto to put into practice Ignatius’ instructions, and this belief in the presence of the Spirit in everyone enabled him to affirm that ‘everything’ should serve as a directive, an indication, but the real decision will be dictated by a discreet charity, ie a charity that discerns the concrete circumstances with the help of the Holy Spirit. This is how Pope Francis speaks of this insight in his document: Certainly, spiritual discernment does not exclude
existential, psychological, sociological or moral insights drawn from the human sciences. At the same time, it transcends them. Nor are the Church’s sound norms sufficient. We should always remember that discernment is a grace. Even though it includes reason and prudence, it goes beyond them, for it seeks a glimpse of that unique and mysterious plan that God has for each of us, which takes shape amid so many varied situations and limitations… It has to do with the meaning of my life before the Father who knows and loves me, with the real purpose of my life, which nobody knows better than he… It requires no special abilities, nor is it only for the more intelligent or better educated. The Father readily reveals himself to the lowly (Mt 11:25). (170) This may seem the easy way out, but ultimately it is the most demanding way, that of taking full responsibility for one’s decisions in full trust of the Spirit’s presence in me too. Only if we are familiar with God in the rest of our lives can we be sensitive to his presence in our decisions. May it please the supreme and divine Goodness to give us all abundant grace ever to know his most holy will and perfectly to fulfil it. – St Ignatius Loyola
Click on the icon to watch and listen to a song ‘God will make a way’, by Don Moen.
THE CONTEXT: THE DESIRE ‘TO LOVE AND SERVE HIS DIVINE MAJESTY IN EVERYTHING As we approach the end of the experience of the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius proposes that the grace to ask for is that of being able to love and serve God in everything. For Ignatius this deep and sincere desire to love and to serve is among the choicest fruits the person doing the Exercises will receive. The desire to love and serve in everything is the context for true discernment, the space within which discernment can take place and bear good fruit in our lives. Discernment is much more than a value free skill or method that one learns to apply in any context: it is above all a spiritual process. Discerning to seek and find the will of God can only take place within the context of the desire to follow him who said he did not come to be served but to serve. One of the first questions I must ask myself is what lies in my heart. Who is at its centre, is it only me, or are the others there too, especially those who suffer and are in need of my help, the ‘little ones’ Jesus identified himself so clearly with? Can I ever discern properly if my heart is closed to migrants? Pope Francis reminds us, ‘We are free, with the freedom of Christ. Still, he asks us to examine what is within us – our desires, anxieties, fears and questions – and what takes place all around us – “the signs of the times” – and thus to recognize
the paths that lead to complete freedom. “Test everything; hold fast to what is good”’ (1 Thess 5:21). [On Holiness, 168] It is this openness and freedom of heart that enables me to discover how to follow Jesus, to identify what he is calling me to, and respond as generously as I can to his call. It can be a call to big things or small, to gestures that can be seen as heroic by others, or to options that are only known to me on the deepest personal level. ‘Often discernment is exercised in small and apparently irrelevant things, since greatness of spirit is manifested in simple everyday realities. It involves striving untrammelled for all that is great, better and more beautiful, while at the same time being concerned for the little things, for each day’s responsibilities and commitments.’ [On Holiness, 169] May it please the supreme and divine Goodness to give us all abundant grace ever to know his most holy will and perfectly to fulfil it. – St Ignatius Loyola
Click on the icon to watch and listen to a recording of the Gustavus Choir singing “Here I Am, Lord” by Daniel L. Schutte arranged by Ovid Young.
UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS As he and two of his close companions were entering Rome along the via Cassia, at a place called La Storta, Ignatius had a vision of Jesus Christ carrying the cross on his shoulders with the Father at his side. The Father said: ‘I want You to take him as your servant.’ Jesus then turned to Ignatius and said: ‘I want you to serve us.’ He also heard the words, ‘I will be favourable to you in Rome’, which he took to mean that they will be facing many persecutions and difficulties as they sought approval from the Pope for their new religious order. Ignatius felt certain that his incessant prayer to be welcomed under the banner of Jesus was being granted to him and to the new Jesuit order: he was being confirmed in his call to serve Jesus carrying the Cross. Through out discernment we seek to discover God’s way of being present in the world. We discover ourselves called to understand what Pope Francis calls ‘God’s patience and his timetable, which are never like our own’. [174] God is the owner who did not allow his workers to uproot the weeds from among the wheat, but asked them to wait patiently for the final judgement. Nor did he let his apostles rain down fire on the villages that did not welcome them. On the contrary, the Gospel tells us that if the grain of wheat
does not die, it will remain alone; if it does die, it will bear abundant fruit. ‘Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life’. (Jn 12:25) This is the great paradox of our faith and of following Jesus, and it can never be absent from our discernment. St Bonaventure, one of the first followers of St Francis of Assisi, pointing to the Cross said, ‘This is our logic’. It is the logic that allows our heart to discern in full freedom, not seeking our comfort and well-being above all things, but the light and strength to follow Jesus as he carries the Cross. It is the Cross of life, for the last word is not the Cross but the Risen Jesus, always present at our side, bearing his wounds. May it please the supreme and divine Goodness to give us all abundant grace ever to know his most holy will and perfectly to fulfil it. – St Ignatius Loyola
Click on the icon to watch and listen to a song ‘In HIs Time’ by Common Destiny.
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